Big Bucks

Deer season is upon us again and thousands of sportsman here in Texas are doing their part to help manage the white tail population.  While a doe harvest is an important part of this process we all hope a trophy buck will cross our path.  An eight or ten point is respectable but we've all heard tales of a monster buck that your buddy just never got a clean shot on.  I was curious as to the validity of these tales so I decided to do a little research.  The Boone and Crocket Club is one of the most respected conservation clubs in our nation and created the universally accepted scoring system for whitetail.  They also keep records dating back to the early 1900's and that's where I found these two monsters.  So next time you dismiss your buddies claim just remember that monsters like this really do exist.

 #1 Typical

Score: 213 5/8      

Location: Saskatchewan         

Hunter: Milo N. Hanson           

Year: 1993

It all started with a school bus driver.  On the last day of Saskatchewan’s 1992 deer season, the driver told locals a monster whitetail was feeding in Milo Hansen’s alfalfa field.  Once word got around, the buck was spotted on farms, in pea fields and then near a highway just north of Biggar in the southwestern portion of the province.

On opening day of the 1993 season, friends and family gathered at the Hansen house as they always had since Milo and his wife Olive moved to the farm in the early 1970s.  They swapped stories of hunts past and talked of how to make a little history and kill the big buck.  The opener proved a bust as the snow was a week old, but on November 22, new snow arrived and the posse devised a plan.  Neighbors spotted the buck and watched him go into the willows.  No one saw him come out.  One hunter went into the willows while everyone else posted themselves around the escape route.  The buck flushed.  Buck fever ensued and several shots missed their mark.

Milo watched the buck run, leveled his 4-power scope and took two shots from his .308 Winchester, bringing the buck to his knees.  One more shot and the deer was dead.  Milo hadn’t had a cigarette in three years, but he wanted one that day.  Friends measured the buck, and then re-measured the buck.  Soon, Milo realized he might just have a world’s record.  Finally, three official Boone & Crockett measurers confirmed everyone’s suspicions.  Milo had killed the world’s finest typical whitetail.

#1 Non-Typical

Score: 333 7/8     

Location: Missouri        

Hunter: Picked Up       

Year: 1981 

Its rack weighs more than 11 pounds and it has more cheaters than a daytime soap opera.  But that’s about where the drama ends for this guy.  He was found dead inside a fence along a road in northern St Louis County.  A hunter who already had his buck notified the warden who got permission to retrieve it.  They couldn’t find any bullet holes and didn’t have any ideas on its cause of death.  It was only 5 ½ years old.  The head was forgotten until the first of the year when the warden took it to the taxidermist who knew at first glance what he had.  It was measured and dubbed the biggest and baddest whitetail of all time.  It remains property of the state of Missouri on display for all its citizens to see.

If you would like to read more on these Big Bucks visit OutdoorLife for a great article on the top 40 Whitetail on record.